Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock stood at the podium and fought back tears Kalen Ballage Jersey Dolphins , the grief resonating across Canada and the NHL.

A bus crash in his home province of Saskatchewan left 14 dead and 15 injured, three critically. A junior hockey team, the Humboldt Broncos, was headed to a playoff game Friday afternoon when a truck collided with its bus. Among the dead were the team’s coach and captain.

”It’s got to rip the heart out of your chest,” Babcock, who grew up in Saskatoon, said at Air Canada Centre. ”We pray for those families and think about them. Horrific, horrific accident.”

Added NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: ”The NHL mourns the passing of those who perished and offers strength and comfort to those injured while traveling to play and be part of a game they all love.”

Toronto center Tyler Bozak said he had difficulty sleeping after hearing the news about the crash near Nipawin.

”You can’t really put into words, anything,” Bozak said before Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Montreal Canadiens. ”I can’t imagine what everyone’s going through back in Saskatchewan.”

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar grew up in Humboldt. He said a friend’s son plays goaltender for the Broncos and survived the crash.

”He went to surgery last night in Saskatoon Cheap John Kelly Jersey , and hopefully he’s doing better,” Bednar said from Denver. ”It’s a tough time for that town. It’s a tight-knit community. It’s only 6,000 people.”

Former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy well understands the ”state of shock and confusion” people are feeling. Kennedy was involved in a crash in 1986 that killed four players when a bus carrying the Swift Current Broncos hit a patch of ice and crashed.

”I think one thing that we underestimate with the impact of trauma and PTSD and going through things like this is the magnitude of the impact,” he said. ”That is what I can’t stress enough.”

Patrick Marleau of the Toronto Maple Leafs was a boy in Saskatchewan when the Swift Current crash happened.

”It’s something you remember when you’re that young,” he said. ”You see the players wearing the logo on their jersey for the players that were lost. It definitely hits home. Growing up around Swift Current, it was always in people’s mind. There’s memorials. They’re never forgotten.”

Babcock has driven the stretch of two-lane highway north of Tisdale where the team was heading to play Game 5 of a semifinal against the Nipawin Hawks.

”I know that road pretty good,” he said. ”It didn’t seem like a big spot, it’s not mountains or anything like that, but accidents do happen.”

Marleau knows the hold the game has in his country, and how ”hockey is everything in Canada.”

”But in Saskatchewan Chad Thomas Jersey Browns , every community’s fairly small,” he said. ”So everybody knows everybody and you try and look out for each other and take care of each other.”

—

The Canadian Press and AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

The people of this small town grieved at their hockey arena Sunday, laying flowers and jerseys in a makeshift memorial at the entrance and later gathering inside to mourn the deaths of 15 people when a semi-trailer slammed into the bus carrying the local youth hockey team.

The 14 others on the bus were injured, some critically, in Friday night’s collision, which has Canada, its national sport and the hockey-obsessed town of Humboldt reeling. Among the dead are Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz and radio announcer Tyler Bieber.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the injured at the hospital Sunday and then attended the vigil held in the town’s arena Sunday night. Trudeau sat among the crowd with his 11-year-old son, Xavier, a hockey player

Team President Kevin Garinger choked back tears as he read out the names of the 15 dead. People embraced each other Packers Elite Jerseys , crying. Boxes of Kleenex were passed down rows.

Behind them, flowers ringed the team logo at center ice. In front of them, there were pictures of the dead and injured.

NEW YORK (AP) – The New York Rangers fired coach Alain Vigneault hours after they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

General manager Jeff Gorton announced the firing Saturday night, a full day before the end of the NHL regular season but long after New York’s playoff hopes were gone.

The Rangers will begin searching for his replacement immediately.

The Rangers made the playoffs in four of Vigneault’s five seasons as coach, including a 2014 trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They went 226-147-37 in the regular season under Vigneault, who is third in regular-season and playoff wins in franchise history.

New York’s front office decided in the middle of this season to go young, sell at the trade deadline and begin a rebuilding process in the hopes of becoming a title contender again. Vigneault repeatedly said he believed the Rangers would have made the playoffs if they didn’t go in that direction.

GOLF

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – Patrick Reed won his first major championship with a thrilling one-shot victory over Rickie Fowler at the Masters.

Reed pulled ahead of Jordan Spieth with an 8-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole Sunday, saved par with a 6-foot putt at No. 17 and pulled off a testy two-putt at the final hole to win with a 1-under 71. His total was a 15-under 273.

Fowler made quite a run at his first major title, making six birdies over the final 11 holes for a closing 67.

It wasn’t quite enough.

Spieth began the day nine shots behind and turned in one of the greatest final rounds in Masters history with an 8-over 64. But a disappointing bogey at the last hole Ryan Jensen Color Rush Jersey , when his tee shot struck a limb, ended his hopes of improbably catching Reed.

Rory McIlroy went into the round three shots off the lead, in good position to make a run at the career Grand Slam. But he stumbled to a 74 and finished six shots behind Reed.

BASEBALL

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Shohei Ohtani retired the Oakland Athletics’ first 19 batters and yielded one hit over seven shutout innings in his home pitching debut, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-1 victory Sunday.

Marcus Semien’s clean one-out single to left broke up Ohtani’s bid for a perfect game, and the two-way Japanese sensation finished the inning for a bravura performance with 12 strikeouts.

Ohtani (2-0) struck out the side twice during the latest feat in a series of early-season superlatives by the 23-year-old Japanese prodigy.

He won his pitching debut in Oakland last weekend with six strong innings. He homered in three consecutive games in Anaheim between starts in his attempt to become the first regular two-way player in decades.

He was sharp from the beginning on a gorgeous day in Orange County, striking out the side in the first inning on 15 pitches while mixing 99 mph heat with 80 mph splitters and precipitous curveballs.

Ohtani struck out the side again in the fifth inning, and he fanned every Oakland batter except Jonathan Lucroy at least once.

PRO BASKETBALL

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Hornets owner Michael Jordan has turned to a fellow former North Carolina Tar Heel with a strong NBA track record to help turn around his struggling franchise.

Charlotte hired Mitch Kupchak as president of basketball operations and general manager Sunday, giving him full control of day-to-day operations. Jordan called Kupchak a ”proven winner” in a statement.

As a player and executive Customized Minnesota Vikings Jerseys , Kupchak has been a part of 10 NBA championship teams. He won three as a player – one with the Washington Wizards and two with in Los Angeles Lakers – and seven as a Lakers executive.

The 63-year-old Kupchak replaces Rich Cho, who was fired earlier this season. Charlotte has failed to make the playoffs in three of its last four seasons.

One of Kupchak’s first decisions will be whether or not to bring back coach Steve Clifford, whose contract expires after the 2019 season.

Kupchak brings more than 30 years of NBA front office experience to Charlotte, including 17 seasons as a general manager with the Lakers.

.